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A federal judge ruled today that all Texans qualify to vote by mail as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which The Texas Tribune wrote, "opened a path for a massive expansion in absentee voting in Texas." The order is part of an ongoing legal battle.
From the Tribune:
"In a lengthy order, opened by quoting the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, [Judge Fred] Biery said he had concerns for the health and safety of voters and stated the right to vote 'should not be elusively based on the whims of nature.'"
In a poll over the weekend, 85% of Austonia readers said that voting by mail should be allowed in 2020.
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(Austin FC/Facebook)
Austin FC is one seat closer to opening the doors to its new stadium for the 2021 Major League Soccer season.
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6e740949dde8192ce5bcef44525886db"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/AustinFC/posts/626207471406427"></div></div><p>On Tuesday, the organization posted to Facebook that the club installed the first stadium seat of the Austin FC Stadium at <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20180222/mckalla-place-the-good-bad-and-ugly-for-possible-mls-stadium-site" target="_blank">McKalla Place</a>. The stadium, located near the Domain, will reportedly hold 20,000 plus fans when it opens for the team's next season. <span></span></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allowfullscreen="" aria-hidden="false" frameborder="0" height="450" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3441.7050557034395!2d-97.72175558487675!3d30.387732081758692!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x8644cbd96a7af0dd%3A0x79427365a674ed87!2sAustin%20FC%20Stadium!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1603231798317!5m2!1sen!2sus" style="border:0;" tabindex="0" width="600"></iframe></div><p>Austin FC also launched their <a href="https://www.austinfc.com/post/2020/10/19/verde-listos-campaign-highlights-austinites-legendary" target="_blank">"Verde Listos" campaign</a>, highlighting local Austinites in an effort to better connect with the Austin community. The campaign includes Austin musician Shakey Graves, Valentina's pitmaster Eliana Gutierrez and muralist Chris Rogers among others.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4c0fec0199595722ba3a0471b22db4b2" id="aa5d2"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318201472417452032"><div style="margin:1em 0">Join us... #VERDE... #LISTOS https://t.co/KY7YspS4C1</div> — Austin FC (@Austin FC)<a href="https://twitter.com/AustinFC/statuses/1318201472417452032">1603118696.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The Austin FC season starts in the spring. Season tickets <a href="https://www.austinfc.com/tickets/season-tickets" target="_blank">went on sale in August</a> and sold out, however, fans can add themselves to the <a href="https://www.austinfc.com/tickets" target="_blank">waitlist for when tickets</a> become available again. </p>
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(Bradley Wilson)
I'm very proud and pleased to tell you that the Austonia team has been selected as a finalist for a nationwide award—Best Emerging (New) Publisher, from the Local Independent Online News Publishers association, the industry group for local digital news sites like ours.
View the 2020 LION awards finalists here.
Recognition like this from our peer group motivates us to work even harder on our mission of connecting you to our ever-changing city.
Thanks to each of you for supporting us. If you like what we're doing, you can help us by forwarding articles to your friends, posting on social media and signing up for our daily AM newsletter.
Texas joins Trump administration's lawsuit against Google, arguing the tech company has a monopoly
5h
(REUTERS/Mike Blake)
By Stacy Fernandez
Texas joined the Trump administration's lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of monopolizing the search engine market and controlling how online ads are bought and sold, according to the suit filed Tuesday morning.
<p>Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement that the multi-billion dollar company engaged in anti-competitive and exclusionary practices that eliminate competition for internet searches and search advertising.</p><p>"Google's anticompetitive business strategies have disrupted the competitive process, reduced consumer choice, and stifled innovation," Paxton said. "Our action today is intended to restore competition and allow rivals and next generation search engines to challenge Google so that the marketplace, not a monopolist, will decide how search services and search ads are offered."</p><p>Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president of global affairs and chief legal officer, called the federal lawsuit "deeply flawed."</p><p>"People use Google because they choose to, not because they're forced to, or because they can't find alternatives," Walker said in a <a href="https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/response-doj" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">statement</a>. "This lawsuit would do nothing to help consumers. To the contrary, it would artificially prop up lower-quality search alternatives, raise phone prices, and make it harder for people to get the search services they want to use."</p><p>The lawsuit is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general of 10 other red states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and South Carolina.</p><p>The suit calls Google a "monopoly gatekeeper for the internet" and claims that in addition to restricting competition on traditional search services and search advertising on computers and mobile devices, it blocked other companies from being part of robust emerging search platforms including voice assistants, smart speakers and cars.</p><p>Walker called the claim "demonstrably wrong."</p><p>"People find information in lots of ways: They look for news on Twitter, flights on Kayak and Expedia, restaurants on OpenTable, recommendations on Instagram and Pinterest," Walker said. "And when searching to buy something, around <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/news/3617671-amazon-first-stop-for-60-of-all-online-shoppers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">60 percent</a> of Americans start on Amazon. Every day, Americans choose to use all these services and thousands more."</p><p>In addition to hurting competitors, Paxton claimed Google's conduct hurt consumers by reducing their choices when it comes to privacy, data protection, use of consumer data and "ultimately diminishing the quality of search services."</p><p>This isn't the first time Paxton has gone against the prominent tech company. Last year, the Texas attorney general <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/08/ken-paxton-google-investigation-web/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">launched a landmark investigation</a> into Google's multi-decade dominance along with 50 other attorneys general and experts that included Google's former rivals.</p><p>The investigation was the first major U.S. antitrust action against Google in about a decade. Paxton said the federal government repeatedly failed to take action against Google and Silicon Valley.</p>
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(Shutterstock)
Researchers at the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin predict there is a 96% chance the COVID-19 pandemic is growing in Austin.
<p>Their model uses local COVID hospitalization data as well as cell phone mobility data to estimate the local state of the pandemic. Last week, it predicted there was only a 66% chance the pandemic was growing locally. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a1c5c7edbd0101a32c6fa7ca9800b192" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="32800" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU0MTY5NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzMxOTgzNH0.vVPhFZ-FzNopH8mdY4wR_dwoU7-BoRmbLw9w9Xod608/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(COVID-19 Modeling Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin)</small></p><p>Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said these projections, coupled with local caseload data, should sound an alarm for residents. <br/></p><p><span></span>"I can't stress enough," he said on Tuesday, "we are in a very precarious time right now."</p><p>The moving average number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Travis County and related hospitalizations in the Austin metro are both in the midst of a two-week sustained upward trend. </p><p><span></span>The average number of daily new confirmed COVID cases is 93, as of Monday evening, according to Austin Public Health data. This represents a nearly 20% increase since Sept. 1, when the average was 78.</p><p>The average number of daily new COVID hospital admissions is 18, the highest it has been since Sept. 8. </p><p>In addition to an increasing number of new cases and hospitalizations, the number of total patients hospitalized with COVID, in the ICU and on ventilators have also increased in the Austin metro over the last few weeks.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3099f6d8afb6a853e18e13ffb9bc7d19" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="37fa1" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU0MTcyNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjgxODc1MX0.X0G9C-kuXUv3xBlaXW25oEGxaoFMmE6XMIgPNY9XWSk/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..."><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/RationalAnarchy/" target="_blank">(Rational Anarchy/Reddit)</a></small></p><p>At this rate, the UT researchers project that the metro could approach its ICU capacity by mid-November. <br/></p><p>Escott attributed these shifts—which arrive after six weeks of a more-or-less flattened curve and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html" target="_blank">are mirrored across the country</a>—to pandemic fatigue.</p><p>"This disease hasn't changed," he said. "What's changed is us."</p><p>In addition to recommitting to masking, social distancing and other protective behaviors, Austinites should get their flu shots, per Escott's advice</p><p>Last year, hospitals in the Austin metro nearly hit their ICU capacity with flu patients alone. Although the flu test positivity rate is currently just over 1%—which Escott said is excellent—there is still concern about the prospect of a twindemic.</p><p>"We have the potential of effectively lowering the surge capacity that we have for COVID-19 if we have flu hospitalizations as well," Escott said. "So now is the time to be extra cautious." </p><p>Austin area primary and secondary schools are not posting significant increases in new cases, but clusters continue to emerge from extracurricular and social activities, such as parent-sanctioned parties.</p><p>Children and young adults are at very low risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, but they can transmit the disease to those in other age groups, such as their teachers and grandparents.</p><p>As a result, Escott said he hopes Austinites take note of these concerning trends.</p><p>"We can change this forecast," he said. "Thanksgiving is going to be ugly if we don't change our actions now."</p>
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Popular podcaster—and new Austin resident—Joe Rogan canceled all podcast episodes for this week just days after the controversial music artist Kanye West teased that he would be on the show.
<p>The cancellation of this week's podcast episodes comes after Rogan's producer Jamie Vernon tested positive for COVID-19. On Instagram, Rogan said he and the rest of his team had tested negative. Rogan also said he had not seen Vernon in nine days, and his staff would be tested every day to make sure they did not contract the virus.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7c202cbb4acc79657709a6dd0f8b9b94" id="84d39"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CGidLAbA1vQ/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
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</div></blockquote></div><p>While Rogan did not mention the guests of the upcoming episodes that were canceled, West tweeted screenshots of a FaceTime call with Rogan, which referred to West being a guest on the podcast this Friday. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f8f25e768b362c9f67e4db0cfdb03cd" id="4c70b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1317550429895622657"><div style="margin:1em 0">Joe Rogan said it’s cool for me to design the set for our podcast this Friday ⛷ https://t.co/9FOPjU36K3</div> — ye (@ye)<a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/statuses/1317550429895622657">1602963476.0</a></blockquote></div><p>West has not publicly responded to the cancellation. </p><p>The rapper icon first mentioned he wanted to be on the podcast on <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1315680854555848705?s=20" target="_blank">Twitter Oct. 12</a>. This would mean West would fly from his Calabasas home to Rogan's <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-businesses-behind-the-joe-rogan-studio-2647571718/timeline-of-joe-rogan-moving-to-texas" target="_blank">new Austin podcast studio</a>, as many guests on the podcast have done already.</p><p>West made news in July for <a href="https://austonia.com/politics/elon-musk-kanye-west" target="_blank">launching his candidacy for U.S. president</a>. While his name will not appear on most ballots, he is still encouraging fans to write his name in. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="19a18f982b6c1115bb96e4146247aae8" id="a8fbc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1314407219434196993"><div style="margin:1em 0">Friends writing me in 🕊 https://t.co/bC4NvFBWB5</div> — ye (@ye)<a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/statuses/1314407219434196993">1602214076.0</a></blockquote></div><p><strong>More on Joe Rogan:</strong></p>
<h2><a href="https://austonia.com/iconoclast-joe-rogan" target="_self">Austin's newest superstar resident, podcaster Joe Rogan, is a complicated, pot smoking, elk hunting, fight fan who wants everyone to just 'calm down'</a></h2>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ1MzI4My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNDczNzU4NX0.7iTW7OLxrUqt24g-Zxe2TKriAjAIWIaNeeBjNHT0KLU/img.jpg?width=980" id="90c7a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3f1c8b335784ceacbf24509cb282d8d5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Austin's newest superstar resident, podcaster Joe Rogan, is a complicated, pot smoking, elk hunting, fight fan who wants everyone to just 'calm down'
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(CC)
The parent company of the Austin American-Statesman is reportedly asking some employees to accept voluntary buyouts.
<p><a href="https://www.gannett.com/" target="_blank">Gannett</a>, the largest newspaper company in the country with 250 publications, sent letters to employees starting Monday with terms for voluntary buyouts, <a href="https://www.poynter.org/locally/2020/another-round-of-voluntary-buyouts-is-coming-to-gannett-newsrooms/" target="_blank">according to Poynter</a>, a journalism industry news source. The buyouts are not offered to every employee, although the impact is felt across company departments—not just in editorial.</p><p>Anyone who received a voluntary buyout offer has until next Tuesday to decide, according to a company HR email obtained by Jack Craver, editor of <a href="https://austinpolitics.net/" target="_blank">The Austin Politics Newsletter</a> and freelance writer for Austin City Hall news.</p><p>But the decision may already be made for anyone who received a buyout offer, according to one editor who spoke anonymously with Poynter.</p><p>"Letters will be going to people picked out for it, and … basically if you get the letter, you are toast," they told Poynter. </p><p>The typical buyout offers one week of severance per year of service and a small bonus, Poynter reported. The process mirrors similar voluntary buyouts from Gatehouse Media, the former owner of the Statesman <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/08/05/gannett-gatehouse-media-new-media-investment-group/1902550001/" target="_blank">before it merged with Gannett</a> last year.</p><p>CEO Mike Reed, who also led Gatehouse before the merger, announced the buyouts to staff last week in a virtual town hall. While doing so, he insisted that Gannett still aspires to grow newsroom staff in the second half of 2020, as promised in his last public quarterly earnings call.</p><p>However, past trends have convinced Statesman employees that more cuts are on the way. In April, the Statesman staff, among other Gannett staffers, experienced furloughs. And in the same month, the local newspaper saw seven of its <a href="https://austonia.com/media/7-statesman-newsroom-staffers-laid-off" target="_blank">journalists get laid off</a>. </p><p>"My guess is layoffs will follow if not enough people take buyouts," one Statesman staffer anonymously told Craver.</p><p>Reed recently <a href="https://www.poynter.org/locally/2020/another-round-of-voluntary-buyouts-is-coming-to-gannett-newsrooms/" target="_blank">told Poynter</a> he would be "happy" if few newsroom employees accept buyouts. However, not all those who accept buyouts may ultimately leave. Instead, Tuesday's deadline will help Gannett narrow the list of voluntary buyouts to potentially approve. </p><p>"[Gannett] will determine who is approved for participation based on a variety of business factors," human resources chief Samantha Howland wrote in a memo obtained by Poynter.</p><p>The ultimate outcomes for voluntary buyouts will be announced Nov. 6, according to Poynter, and be effective by Dec. 1. The company has not announced how many staff it is targeting for voluntary buyouts. </p>
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(Pexels)
About 50,000 Austin-area users have already downloaded Citizen, a smartphone app that reports real-time police and emergency medical threats. Austin is already one of Citizen's most popular cities since the company soft-launched here late last year.
<p>"It's one of our top markets after cities like New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago," Citizen spokesperson Lily Gordon told Austonia via email.<br/></p><p>The app relies on hired analysts and user-generated content to track every 911 call and public safety dispatch in the city. Users receive alerts about nearby incidents directly on their cell phone lock screen, and reports are updated live with additional details as well as audio and video recordings as they become available.</p><p>While there are numerous services similar to Citizen, including the city-built <a href="https://austintexas.gov/department/austin-pd-smartphone-app" target="_blank">Austin PD smartphone app</a>, Citizen claims to be the most popular since its launch in 2017. In total, the app has been downloaded by 5 million people across 20-plus metropolitan areas. </p><p>Citizen has already live reported several notable events in Austin. In addition to daily local COVID-19 updates, the app served as an information resource during downtown social unrest in late May and June.</p><p>More recently, Citizen dominated coverage during two September news events: when <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-trump-boat-parade" target="_self">five boats sank</a> during a pro-Donald Trump boat parade rally on Lake Travis (Sept. 4) and again when <a href="https://austonia.com/construction-crane-collision-austin" target="_self">two construction cranes collided</a>, injuring 22 workers in the Mueller neighborhood (Sept. 16). During both news events, the smartphone app scooped some local news outlets with live breaking news updates from analysts and Citizen users.</p><p>"We were proud that we were able to provide real-time updates on this major story to more than 30,000 Austinites and be a resource for local news outlets," Gordon said via email. "As a real-time safety app, this example points to how we are in a unique position to provide up-to-the-minute updates about developing public safety incidents."</p><p>As part of its "official" Austin debut in April, the company hired freelance help to increase activity on the platform. Austin native Brian Smith, who runs <a href="https://twitter.com/txmobilenews?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@txmobilenews</a> on Twitter as a freelance videographer, helped Citizen cover breaking news events in Austin as part of its "Street Team Program." He posted videos of public safety threats directly to the app, getting paid for each scene he documented. </p><p>The street team disbanded after the first month because of COVID-19 health concerns. Smith did similar stringer work while living in New York City. But Austin doesn't have as many breaking news stringers—think Jake Gyllenhaal's character in "Nightcrawler"—as the larger news markets. </p><p>"I'm kind of the only one who does the videos for the television networks," said Smith, who works as head of sales for a technology startup during the day. "This market just doesn't support it."</p><p>Even though Smith is no longer paid by Citizen for his side hustle, he still uses the app to find breaking news events to cover for the highest bidder. He even posts the occasional video clip from a news event as long as it doesn't compete with his freelance work.</p><p>From his experience, the app has proven reliable and accurate, and it's only improving.</p><p>"I do believe the people behind Citizen are committed to doing the best they can to put the best information out there to inform the public," Smith said.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="614b6e2361ab68210306ae3383fc7f09" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="356b6" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUzNTU2Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDY2OTcwMH0.JPAjqSqiMj3SUbE6RPsTteEqibfZQFp_xWrTaRAoBLs/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Public safety alerts are blasted to Citizen users each time a 911 call is documented. Users can customize the extent they receive alerts.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Citizen app</small></p><p>Many users on Citizen promote news from the app on other social platforms, including Westlake resident Dennis Lastor, who posts the occasional breaking alert to Twitter. The city has become less safe since he moved here 21 years ago, he said, and Citizen helps document the extent of the issue.<br/></p><p>"I wanted to see what kind of crime was going on and what kind of increase might be going on, and Citizen app was the only direct source showing the reality of what kind of crime was going on," said Lastor, who downloaded the app about three months ago.</p><p>Lastor, an engineer, says Citizen provides data that shows a rising crime trend as well as bizarre anecdotes about public safety risks in Austin. For example, there have been reports of multiple people chased by a machete-wielding man in one neighborhood, he said, and more than a dozen 7-Eleven convenience stores have recently been robbed. </p><p>According to the <a href="http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/101520_CMR_September_%20EXTERNAL.pdf" target="_blank">latest crime report</a> from the Austin police chief, crimes against persons and property crime are down so far this year. Lastor acknowledges the app has the potential to confirm his own bias, so he also relies on other news sources to balance out Citizen.</p><p>Lastor and Smith also both reject any comparison to Nextdoor—another hyperlocal reporting service—which is sometimes ridiculed for its unsubstantiated "suspicious person" posts. In fact, Lastor just deleted his Nextdoor account. </p><p>"(Citizen) can be hypervigilant, so you may think it's World War III when it's just an average day, but the upside beats the downside," Lastor said.</p>
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